alcheringa

name

Etymology: Borrowed from Eastern Arrernte.

1. Synonym of Dreamtime.

   “Sometimes the spirit child which goes into a woman is associated with one of the sacred Churinga, numbers of which every Alcheringa individual carried about with him or her (for in those days the women were allowed to carry them just as the men were), and then, in this case, the child has no definite name, but of course it belongs to the same totem as did the individual who had carried the Churinga about in the Alcheringa; that is, if it were a kangaroo man or woman, so of course must the child be, and then the old men determine what shall be its secret or sacred name.”

   “Amulet stones are traditionally carried for protection and good luck, but Alcheringa Stones have a much deeper property: that of connection to the land, the spirit of the ancestors, and the dreamtime.”